Method for determining and measuring frontal head posture and frontal view thereof

Abstract

A method for determining and measuring profile and frontal head posture and front views thereof to establish a 3-D model of a patient's head and face. In the method, a patient places his or her head in a natural head position and establishes a postural sagittal plane. Additionally, the practitioner may move the patients head to a corrected sagittal plane. If still necessary, an anatomic sagittal plane that comprises an anatomical midline of the patient's face when viewed from a frontal view is constructed. An profile anatomical coronal plane is located and aligned with the frontal anatomical sagittal plane. Next, an anatomical transverse plane is established through the soft tissue nasion and aligning it perpendicularly to the anatomical sagittal and coronal planes. By developing the 3 planes a 3-D reference frame is established from which soft tissue and hard tissue landmarks are identified and measured.

1 . A method for determining and measuring frontal, rotational, and profile head posture views thereof, comprising: 
 having a patient place his or her head in a natural head position and establishing postural coronal, sagittal, and transverse planes;    adjusting the patient's head, if necessary, to establish the coronal, sagittal, and transverse planes;    anatomically defining coronal, sagittal, and transverse planes;    and measuring soft and hard tissue landmarks to the three anatomical planes to define skeletal and soft tissue measurements of the face from a three dimensional view.    
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the patient places his or her head in the natural head position and establishes the frontal postural head position by looking into a mirror at his or her pupils, leveling his or her head up and down along a sagittal plane and moving it side to side along a transverse plane in order to orient the frontal posture vertically and from left to right.  
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the frontal anatomical sagittal plane that comprises an anatomical midline of the patient's face has a projection that passes through the midpoint of the intercanthal distance (ICD-M) on the bridge of the nose and the midpoint of the upper lip as defined by the center of the philtrum (PH-M) and the upper lip cupid's bow.  
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the frontal anatomical sagittal plane has a projection that extends from above the patient's hairline to below the patient's soft tissue menton.  
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the determined anatomical frontal, rotational, and profile head postures are used to develop the sagittal, coronal, and transverse planes to measure the patient's face.  
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the determined frontal anatomical sagittal plane is used to measure the distance to same landmarks on both the left and right sides of the face to determine if these landmarks are on the same level and/or are perpendicular to the anatomical sagittal plane to make a measurement of vertical symmetry.  
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the landmarks on both the left and right sides of the face are selected from the group consisting of pupils of the eyes, maxillary canine teeth, mandibular canine teeth, and inferior border of the chin.  
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the determined sagittal, coronal, and transverse planes are used to orient the face for measurement of the height and width and proportionality of those distances.  
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the determined sagittal, coronal, and transverse planes are used to orient the face for vertical measurement of the face.  
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the vertical measurement of the face are selected from the group consisting of the upper ⅓ height, lower ⅓ height, upper lip length, lower lip length, upper incisor exposure, upper incisor crown height, interlabial gap, upper vermillion height, and lower vermillion height.  
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the determined sagittal, coronal, and transverse planes are used to orient the face for structural measurements selected from the group consisting of alar base width and maxillary intercanine width.  
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the determined sagittal, coronal, and transverse planes are used to orient the face for shape and contour measurements of the cheekbone and the bridge of nose line.  
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein key structures of the face and head are measured to the sagittal, coronal, and transverse planes are selected from at least one of the group consisting of: 
 a. at least one of hard and soft tissue structures;    b. vertical structures;    c. outline structures;    d. structure levels;    e. midline structures;    f. left and right sides of face;    g. shape and contour symmetry; and    h. projections of facial landmarks.    
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the at least one of hard and soft tissue structures include soft tissue and skeletal angles of the mandible.  
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the vertical structures are selected from the group consisting of upper ⅓ height, lower ⅓ height, upper lip length, lower lip length, upper incisor exposure, upper incisor crown height, interlabial gap, upper vermillion height, and lower vermillion height.  
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the outline structures are selected from the group consisting of left and right chin, mandibular angles, zygomatic arch width and mandibular body width.  
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the structure levels are selected from the group consisting of eyes, maxillary canines, mandibular canines, commissures of the mouth, inferior border of the mandible and chin.  
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the midlines structures are selected from the group consisting of the nasal bridge center, the nasal tip, the philtrum, the midline between the two central mandible incisors, subnasale and the midline of the chin and the midline structures are measured to the anatomical sagittal plane as defined inner canthal midline and philtrum midline.  
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the left and right sides of face are selected from the group consisting of cheekbone height of contour and angles of the mandible.  
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the shape and contour symmetry are selected from the group consisting of base of nose width and cheekbone contour.  
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the sagittal, coronal, and transverse planes are used to orient key the face for measurement of internal structures including bone and teeth.  
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the internal structures are selected from the group consisting of the piriform aperture, zygomatic arches, lateral orbital rims, zygomatic buttresses, angles of the mandible, body of the mandible, and parasymphasis of the mandible.  
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein after making measurements of the key structures of the face and head, frontal soft tissue and hard tissue facial analysis landmarks are identified using the anatomic frontal true vertical line.  
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein facial landmark identification objects are located on the face prior to imagining the face.  
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 24 , wherein the imaging of the face takes place with at least one of the group consisting of cone beam computerized tomography, 2-D photography, 3-D photography, 3-D stereo photogrammetry, scattered light photography, laser scanning and ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging.  
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising locating an anatomical transverse plane ATP through the soft tissue nasion ATP-Na′ and aligning it perpendicularly to the anatomical sagittal and coronal planes, wherein the ATP-Na′ is used as a reference line to measure the vertical position of hard and soft tissue structures.  
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein the anatomical transverse plane at Nasion (ATP-Na′) can be moved to a vertical level or point at a practitioner's discretion.  
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 26 , further comprising locating a anatomic coronal plane and aligning it with the anatomical sagittal plane through subnasale, and using the anatomical transverse plane through nasion to establish a 3-D reference frame from which soft tissue and hard tissue landmarks are identified and measured, which in turn are used to measure key features of the face and head in order to accurately establish a 3-D plot of facial landmarks and features to be determined.  
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 28 , wherein the anatomical coronal plane is established by having the patient position his or her head in natural head position, uppermost condyle, and with passive lips, and placing a line through the subnasale and drawn perpendicular to the natural horizontal head position.  
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 28 , wherein the anatomic coronal plane is utilized when necessary to correct the patients determined natural head position.  
     
     
         31 . A method for determining and measuring a profile and frontal head posture and views thereof to establish a 3-D model, comprising: 
 having a patient place his or her head in a natural head position and establishing a postural sagittal plane;    adjusting the patient's head as necessary if at all to establish a corrected sagittal plane that comprises an anatomical midline of the patient's face when viewed from a frontal view;    constructing an anatomic sagittal plane through nasal bridge midline and the philtrum midpoint;    locating an anatomical transverse plane through the soft tissue nasion and aligning it perpendicularly to anatomic sagittal plane; and    locating a profile anatomical coronal plane and aligning it with the anatomic sagittal plane, and using the anatomical transverse plane to establish a 3-D reference frame that is usable to measure key features of the face and head in order to accurately determine facial landmarks and features.    
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein the patient places his or her head in the natural head position and establishes the postural sagittal plane by looking into a mirror at his or her pupils, leveling his or her head up and down along a sagittal plane and moving it side to side along a rotational plane in order to orient the frontal posture vertically and from left to right.  
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein the anatomical sagittal plane that comprises an anatomical midline of the patient's face has a projection that passes through the midpoint of the intercanthal distance on the bridge of the nose and the midpoint of the upper lip as defined by the center of the philtrum and the upper lip cupid's bow, and extends from above the patient's hairline to below the patient's soft tissue menton.  
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein the profile anatomical coronal plane is established by having the patient position his or her head in natural head position, uppermost condyle, and with passive lips, and placing a line through the subnasale and drawn perpendicular to the natural head position horizontal.  
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein the anatomical coronal plane is used to correct natural head position which is inaccurate, and wherein the anatomical coronal plane is defined by a line through subnasale and anterior glabella point which is about 6 to 12 mm anterior to soft tissue glabella.  
     
     
         36 . A method for determining and measuring frontal head posture and front views thereof, comprising: 
 establishing an anatomical sagittal plane that comprises an anatomical midline of the patient's face when viewed from a frontal view; and    measuring soft and hard tissue landmarks to the anatomical sagittal plane to define at least one of skeletal and soft tissue measurements of the face from a frontal view.    
     
     
         37 . The method of  claim 36 , further comprising locating a anatomical transverse plane through the soft tissue nasion and aligning it perpendicularly to anatomical sagittal plane; and 
 locating a profile anatomical coronal plane and aligning it with the anatomical sagittal plane, and using the anatomical transverse plane to establish a 3-D reference frame that is useable to measure key features of the face and head in order to accurately determine facial landmarks and features.    
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 33 , wherein the anatomic sagittal plane that comprises an anatomical midline of the patient's face has a projection that passes through the midpoint of the intercanthal distance on the bridge of the nose and the midpoint of the upper lip as defined by the center of the philtrum and the upper lip cupid's bow, and extends from above the patient's hairline to below the patient's soft tissue menton.  
     
     
         39 . The method of  claim 33 , wherein the anatomical coronal plane is established by one of being anatomically drawn by anterior glabella point and subnasale, and having the patient position his or her head in natural head position, uppermost condyle, and with passive lips, and placing a line through the subnasale and drawn perpendicular to the natural horizontal head position.